The present invention relates generally to the fastening of objects using plastic fasteners and relates more particularly to a novel plastic fastener, a novel fastener clip, a novel fastener dispensing tool and a novel method of fastening objects.
Certain articles of clothing, most notably men's dress shirts, are often packaged and sold in a folded condition so as to minimize any wrinkling of the article and so as to present the article in an otherwise flattering manner. Typically, the article is maintained in a folded condition by means of one or more straight metal pins, each of said straight metal pins typically comprising an elongated shaft terminating at one end in a sharp tip designed to penetrate the article and at the other end in a rounded head designed not to penetrate the article. Typically in use, the article is folded, and a plurality of said pins are used to maintain the article in its folded condition by securing the article to itself at a plurality of different locations. Often, in the case of men's dress shirts, one or more of said pins are additionally used to secure the shirt to a piece of cardboard or to a similar backing material. The act of using straight metal pins to maintain an article of clothing in a folded condition is typically referred to in the art as "shirt-pinning."
Although straight metal pins have achieved widespread use in maintaining articles of clothing in a folded condition, certain shortcomings are associated therewith. One such shortcoming is that no suitable tool exists for dispensing such pins into an article of clothing; consequently, the pins must be inserted manually. As can readily be appreciated, the repeated insertion of such pins into articles of clothing, over time, can become both physically and mentally taxing. Another shortcoming associated with the use of straight metal pins is that the pins, as noted above, have sharp ends, which can cause injury both to the person who must insert the pin into the article and to the person (i.e., consumer) who must remove the pin from the article. Moreover, once the pins are removed from the article, they must be disposed of properly to avoid injury to others. Still another shortcoming associated with the use of straight metal pins is that such pins, when inserted, may cause damage to the article, either by snagging and tearing the article or by creating a conspicuous insertion hole in the article. Still yet another shortcoming associated with the use of straight metal pins is that such pins, once inserted into an article of clothing, can be difficult to access and manipulate in such a way as to enable their removal.
Plastic fasteners of the type comprising an elongated flexible filament having a first enlargement at one end thereof and a second enlargement at the opposite end thereof are well-known and have been widely used in the attachment of merchandise tags to articles of commerce, in the coupling or re-coupling of buttons to garments, in the binding of a shoe upper during the process of shoe-lasting, and in various packaging applications. In one common type of plastic fastener (see, for example, FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,872, which patent is incorporated herein by reference), the first enlargement has the shape of a first transverse bar and the second enlargement has the shape of a paddle or the shape of a second transverse bar, the first transverse bar and the paddle (or second transverse bar) extending in planes parallel to one another. In another common type of plastic fastener (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,494,004, which patent is incorporated by reference), the first enlargement has the shape of a transverse bar and the second enlargement has the shape of a knob or pin head. In still another common type of plastic fastener (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,183, which patent is incorporated herein by reference), the first enlargement has the shape of a transverse bar or the shape of a plug and the second enlargement has the shape of a socket, said socket being adapted to receive said transverse bar or said plug.
Plastic fasteners of the various types described above are typically molded as parts of a unitary fastener clip. An example of such a fastener clip is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,657, which patent is incorporated herein by reference. The clip of the aforementioned '657 patent includes a plurality of fasteners, each of said fasteners comprising a flexible filament having a first transverse bar (or "cross-bar") at one end thereof and a paddle or a second transverse bar (or "cross-bar") at the opposite end thereof, the transverse bar and the paddle (or second transverse bar) of each fastener extending in planes parallel to one another. The fasteners are arranged relative to one another so that the respective transverse bars are spaced apart and oriented side-by-side and parallel to one another and so that the respective paddles (or second transverse bars) are spaced apart and oriented side-by-side and parallel to one another. The clip of the foregoing '657 patent also includes a runner bar, said runner bar extending perpendicularly relative to the respective transverse bars and being connected to each of the transverse bars by a severable connector. The clip of said '657 patent further includes a severable member interconnecting each pair of adjacent paddles (or second transverse bars).
Several commercial embodiments of the aforementioned fastener clip have been sold by the present assignee, Avery Dennison Corporation, as DENNISON.RTM. SWIFTACH.RTM. fastener clips. DENNISON.RTM. SWIFTACH.RTM. fastener clips comprising fasteners of the type having a cross-bar at one end of a flexible filament and a paddle at the opposite end of the flexible filament are generally made of polypropylene or nylon and are typically used to attach merchandise tags and the like to articles of clothing. The filaments of such fasteners are typically at least about 12.5 mm in length. DENNISON.RTM. SWIFTACH.RTM. fastener clips comprising fasteners of the type having a first cross-bar at one end of a flexible filament and a second cross-bar at the opposite end of the flexible filament are made of nylon and are used to attach merchandise tags and the like to a wide variety of articles of commerce. In addition, such fasteners are used in shoe-lasting applications and in packaging applications, where the high tensile strength afforded by the use of nylon in the fastener is desirable. The filaments of such fasteners are typically at least about 6.35 mm in length.
As far as the present inventors are aware, the above-described fastener clip, exemplified by the family of DENNISON.RTM. SWIFTACH.RTM. fastener clips, has not been used to maintain an article of clothing, such as a dress shirt, in a folded condition.
A second type of fastener clip (or "fastener stock") is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,078, inventor Bone, issued Aug. 2, 1977, which patent is incorporated herein by reference. In said patent, the fastener stock comprises two undivided elongated and continuous plastic side members having a plurality of plastic cross links coupled to and between each of said side members, each of the links being preferably spaced equidistantly apart from each other. The fastener stock is designed to be separated or divided, e.g., by cutting, severing, rupturing or shearing the side members, to provide a plurality of fasteners, each of said fasteners preferably having a substantially H shape.
A commercial embodiment of the aforementioned fastener stock has been sold by the present assignee, Avery Dennison Corporation, as DENNISON.RTM. PLASTIC STAPLE.TM. fasteners. PLASTIC STAPLE.TM. fasteners are typically made of polyurethane and are often used to attach tags, at two distinct points, to pants and similar clothing articles. It is the understanding of the present inventors that, for a limited time in the past, a third party used PLASTIC STAPLE.TM. fasteners to "pin" shirts, albeit not dress shirts or other shirts of a fine material, so as to maintain the shirts in a folded condition. It is the understanding of the present inventors that the aforementioned securing was achieved using a dual needle fastener dispensing tool of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,076 and was performed by folding the shirt, inserting both needles of the tool entirely through the folded-over article and then dispensing both cross-bars through the needles and the folded article so that both cross-bars were positioned on one side of the article, with the filament connecting the two cross-bars extending over to the opposite side of the article. It is further believed by the present inventors that the aforementioned use of such fasteners to "pin" shirts was discontinued because PLASTIC STAPLE.TM. fasteners did not have sufficient tensile strength to maintain the shirt in its folded condition (PLASTIC STAPLE.TM. fasteners typically having a tensile strength of about 1.2-1.4 pounds).
Tools (often referred to as "tagging guns") for dispensing individual fasteners from multi-fastener clips of the two different types described above are known, examples of such tools including the Dennison.RTM. Mark II.TM. SWIFTACH.RTM. tool, as well as those tools disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,772,073, 5,683,025, 5,024,365, 4,533,076, 4,456,161, 4,121,487, and 4,456,123, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Other patents that may be of interest include U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,666, inventor Bone, issued Sep. 17, 1963; U.S. Pat. No. 5,593,033, inventor Kunreuther, issued Jan. 14, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,463,799, inventor Graham, issued Nov. 7, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,872, inventor Merser, issued Jun. 21, 1994; U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,657, inventor Lankton, issued May 22, 1973, U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,718, inventor Kato et al., issued Apr. 28, 1987; and U.S. Reissue Pat. No. 32,332, inventor Kato, re-issued Jan. 20, 1987, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.